It comes as a government scientific advisor said that the UK will need to keep "significant levels" of social distancing until a vaccine is found.

Professor Neil Ferguson said there is "little leeway" to relax measures without something in their place".

Prof Ferguson added: "Without that, our estimates show we have relatively little leeway; if we relax measures too much then we'll see a resurgence of transmission.

"What we really need is the ability to put something in their place. If we want to open schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner.

"And I should say, it's not going to be going back to normal. We will have to maintain some level of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available."

He suggested testing and contact tracing be used.

It comes after the Office for National Statistics announced this morning that one in every 10 coronavirus deaths had no known underlying health conditions.

According to the latest figures, 12,868 patients have died from coronavirus in the UK.